Khalifa: The Ruler
Crime Action Malayalam
Aamir Ali, a notorious gold smuggling kingpin who inherited his multi-million dollar criminal enterprise from a lineage of gangsters, is drawn into a web of vengeance, legacy and power.
| Cast: | Prithviraj Sukumaran, Mohanlal, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Indrans, Shammi Thilakan, Malvika Sharma, Renji Panicker, Mohini, Sanju Sivaram, Anand Manmadhan, Shivajith Padmanabhan |
|---|---|
| Director: | Vysakh |
| Writer: | Jinu Abraham |
| Editor: | Chaman Chakko |
| Camera: | Jomon T. John |
All Guild Reviews of "Khalifa: The Ruler"
A Gold Smuggling Thriller With a Mid-Ass Touch
The Prithviraj Sukumaran film works best when it breaks down the inner workings of a complicated “family business”, even if it feels familiar and comes undone in the last hour.
Director Vysakh has made some of Malayalam cinema’s biggest blockbusters, but he still doesn’t have a clue about how to handle romance. In a fairly straightforward first half hour of the film, you’d expect to understand the Ali family’s hierarchy and criminal legacy; Vysakh forces a “cute” love story between Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Aamir Ali and a girl named Fiza. There’s some background here about Aamir’s ailing grandpa and how he wants to see him get married as his dying wish, but you can smell the fluff from miles away.
Prithviraj Sukumaran Walks the Walk, but the Story Stumbles
Director Vysakh's Khalifa, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Neil Nitin Mukesh, is a template masala entertainer that lacks heart and conviction. The film relies heavily on Prithviraj's swag rather than a compelling story.
Prithviraj Sukumaran needs a win, and Khalifa: The Ruler arrives at just the right — or perhaps the most crucial — moment. After Vilayath Buddha and I, Nobody failed to make a mark at the box office, all eyes are now on Vysakh’s action thriller to turn things around. But does Khalifa have what it takes to end Prithviraj’s box-office dry spell? Let’s find out! Khalifa opens with a grand wedding, after which the bride’s brother, Samad, is detained by the police. From there, the narrative unfolds around Aamir Ali (Prithviraj Sukumaran), who has taken refuge in London. With a warrant issued against him for murder and a notorious reputation as a gold smuggler, the film explores the circumstances that led Aamir to this point.
Prithviraj Sukumaran Stars in a Shoddily Written Old-School Smuggling Drama
Director Vysakh’s ‘Khalifa’, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, suffers from an outdated story and a flat narrative, with even a cameo from a superstar failing to make up for its shortcomings
When a star plays a notorious smuggler, there has to be a compelling reason for him to become one. Vysakh’s Khalifa provides Aamir Ali (Prithviraj Sukumaran) a reason with some emotional pull. A one-liner for the film could be this: ‘a heart-rending story of a man who becomes a master gold smuggler to repay his honest father’s debts caused by corrupt politicians’. However, the narrative lacks the intended emotional pull or the expected thrills. The similarity to umpteen films released in the 1980s and 90s adds to the movie’s dullness.
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